What are some examples of sites I could use to post programming contracts? If you had a project you needed done in programming language X, and wanted to pay someone else to do it for you, where would you start? Or on the other side of things, where do you go to look for programming contracts? ...
After posting this question and reading that one I realized that it is very important to know if a method is supposed to return null, or if this is considered an error condition and an exceptions should be thrown. There also is a nice discussion when to return ‘null’ or throw exception . I'm writing a method and I already know if I want...
I have seen the term "Corp-to-corp" used in various contracting ads. I am guessing that this means that I have a corporation and it, as an enitity, is billing the client instead of me as an individual and the corp then pays me. Is that correct? What are the ramifications of this versus (a) contracting through another firm (W2) or (b...
I have a couple opportunities in the near future to do side projects. By that I mean that these projects are not work related; Other people will pay me to create something for them, in my "free" time. One such opportunity includes a possible percentage of profits from the sale of certain items. In this case, the client has a lawyer (who...
What are some of the secrets to ensuring that one gets development contracts from potential clients? Especially if you are a solo coder. ...
Can anyone provide a description of what an older new contractor at Microsoft may expect in terms of career growth? I'm guessing that there's an implicit bias toward full time recruitment of college level or junior/younger workers, with older full time hires being primarily marquee names like Don Box. Surely some people get converted t...
The role of outsourcing firms with large employers like Microsoft, Oracle and Google has grown in economic significance, and is likely to remain strong for the next few years as hiring freezes persist, and human resource needs get filled using contingent workers. Part of this is driven by the regulatory regime, as permanent employees ha...
I'm dealing with an outsourcing firm that refuses to provide a written letter of offer prior to my first day of work. To confound this problem, it's necessary for me to relocate for this position. Given the current employment market, I feel compelled to act, but it's starting to look like I should be searching for work elsewhere in adv...
I'm trying to establish myself as an iPhone freelancer, and are currently negotiating with a startup about a bigger project. They have expressed that they want me to sign a non-competition agreement, so that I wouldn't be allowed to develop a similar product for companies in competition on the same geographical market. Needless to say, I...
I'm a college student who's had several internships and consider myself a decent programmer. I have a friend who does consulting work and who wants me to help him with one of his projects. Since I've never done any contract work before, what are things I should be aware of and watch out for? ...
I was wondering if managers/developers out there had any opinions on the best places to find freelance/contract developers? Over the years my company has utilized contractors and freelance developers (both in the U.S. and offshore) for many projects. We've tried sites like rentacoder (horrible experience), and also utilized our own net...
We occasionally get approached by people who want someone to write software for them. They often take the form of: I have a great idea for a piece of software and I want to find someone to write it for me. I have money to fund a project. Can you help me? We are fully a "shrink-wrap" software firm, providing production software for ...
A friend of mine came to me with a proposal where I pretty much do all the work (design/programming) and he deals with the client. Hes asking for 50% of the contract for the referral and to not have to deal with the client. Seems like a lot but at the same time I would get nothing if he didn't bring me the client. I'm wondering what ot...
I'm doing some contract work who need the source code for the application I'm writing. For the new files I'm writing for the customer, I'm giving them the copyright. However, there are some utility files (for OS abstractions like threading) I'm using that I've developed on my own (not on the customer's dime). I want to keep the right ...
I am fresh out of College (graduated in December with BS in Comp Sci). I have been working for a very large (40,000+ employee) company for over two years. My job is as stable as anyone could hope for. However, I am always bored, they cannot keep us (developers) busy. I am thinking about apply at some local contracting companies and try ...
To execute an Agile project you first need a contract. No contract – no project! No project – no Agile, SCRUM or whatsoever! The contract, if we are talking about mid to big projects, must have well defined safety triggers. I.e. customers want to be very much sure, that if we agree on ending a project in time = T, budget = B and scope =...
I've been offered the chance to do some short contracts - less than two months as a self employed contractor in the UK. I like the idea of working on a variety of projects but what rates should I charge? What else should I know? Some details (thanks to commenters) I'm located in West London, My experience is mostly in digital libra...
Here's my situation with rough numbers. I'd like to know if my thinking (at the bottom) seems sound to you guys. (Side note: I've read many of the related questions on here, and helpful as they were, none seemed to touch on this specific issue.) For 2 years I was a senior developer at Company X. I was full-time, W-2, and making $100k/yr...
Three weeks ago, I completed a project for a guy. My former CEO gave him a good reference. The whole time I was doing work for this guy, I gave him updates he could see, and told him he needed to make sure to tell me if there were any changes he needed. At the end, he told me it looked awesome, exactly what he wanted, and he would send...
As I will need to leave the place where I'm living now, so probably will become to be a contract worker, does this normal mean you earn less because you are on pay as you done basis? Should I got even higher hour rate as I don't have the pension and benefit scheme from employment? ...